Which to use
“clothe” and “clothed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,249
- “clothe” frequency rank
- #20,589
- “clothed” frequency rank
- 59838
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clothe | clothed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To adorn or cover with clothing; to dress; to supply clothes or clothing. | simple past and past participle of clothe |
Where the eye mixes clothe and clothed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. clothe runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against clothed's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses clothe with clothed
A purely visual mix-up. clothe (/ˈkləʊð/) and clothed (/ˈkləʊðd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “clothe” sits inside “clothed”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59838, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clothe is recorded at frequency rank #39,249, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈkləʊð/. clothed is at rank #20,589, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈkləʊðd/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 59838, this pair ranks #103,801 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of clothe vs clothed
Shared letters: cehlot. Private to "clothe": -. Private to "clothed": d.
"clothe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "clothed" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "clothe" and "clothed" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "clothe" or "clothed"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "clothe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clothed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #103,801 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clothe" and "clothed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clothe vs clove". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #103,801 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.